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Iranian law criminalizes dissent, and the Iranian government has arrested or imprisoned many of its own citizens for their political activities or beliefs, as well as for their religious beliefs. While there are no exact statistics regarding the number of political prisoners and other prisoners of conscience in Iran, most human rights activists estimate there are about 500 Iranian political prisoners, but possibly more than 1,000. Many of these individuals were imprisoned for protesting the results of Iran’s 2009 presidential election or for their support of political opposition movements. Others were detained on the basis of their religion. Several were jailed after secret trials that did not adhere to basic principles of due process. Many were tried or sentenced to death for vague crimes such as “attempts against the security of the state,” “enmity towards God,” or “insulting government officials.” Below is a list of individuals the Iranian government has detained for political or religious reasons. The list will be updated to add or remove names as conditions warrant.

The information provided here comes from multiple sources, including NGOs and activists inside and outside of Iran.

	Name: Mansoureh Behkish Date of Imprisonment: June 12, 2011 Occupation: Member of Mothers for Peace Charge: Assembling and conspiring with the intent to harm national security; propaganda against the system Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Four and a half years Read more... Mansoureh Behkish is a member of Mothers for Peace, a group of Iranian women that campaigns for peace and stability in the region, and the Mourning Mothers, a group of women whose children have been killed, disappeared or detained by the Iranian authorities, and their supporters. She is also a signatory of a letter sent to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki -Moon dated October 30, 2009 which highlighted the violations of the rights of political prisoners in Iran and called on the United Nations to reestablish the office of the Special Representative for Iran and to save the lives of prisoners sentenced to death in Iran. On June 12, 2011 she was arrested and has been held since. She was sentenced in December 2011 to four and a half years in prison, with three and a half of those years suspended for five years.
	Name: Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Bouroujerdi Date of Imprisonment: October 7, 2006 Occupation: Ayatollah Charge: Around 30, including moharebeh (“enmity towards God”); acts against national security; publicly calling political leadership by clergy unlawful; having links with anti-revolutionaries and spies; and using the term “religious dictatorship” instead of “Islamic Republic” in public discourse and radio interviews Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Eleven years Read more... Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Bouroujerdi is a Shia cleric who rejects the principle of political leadership by the clergy (Velayat-e Faqih), which is a central feature of Iran’s constitution. He advocates the removal of religion from the political basis of the state. He has summoned by the Special Clerical Court, which handles charges against the clergy, on several occasions, starting in 1994 when he began speaking out. In 2006, when he was last summoned by the Special Clerical Court, he refused to appear. A warrant was issued October 7, 2006 for his arrest and over a thousand of his supporters surrounded him to protect him. He was arrested the next day along with approximately 400 supporters. In June 2007, he was found guilty of many charges against him, including moharebeh (“enmity towards God”) and publicly calling political leadership by clergy unlawful and sentenced to eleven years in prison. During his time in prison, he has developed heart and kidney problems as a result of torture and abuse by the regime. He has also lost a significant amount of weight, possibly as much as 80 pounds, and 80 percent of his vision due to cataracts, torture or ill treatment.
	Name: Mehdi Alizadeh Fakhrabad Date of Imprisonment: March 2011 Occupation: Web developer and humorist Charge: Moharebeh (“enmity towards God”) Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Death; sentenced in January 2012 Read more... Fakhrabad, a web developer and humorist, was sentenced to death in January 2012 on charges of moharebeh (“enmity towards God). He was first arrested summer of 2008. Released in the spring of 2009, he was rearrested in March 2011.
	Name: Abdolreza Ghanbari Date of Imprisonment: December 27, 2009 Occupation: Persian literature teacher Charge: Moharebeh (“enmity towards God”) through participation in the street gatherings on Ashura Day and contact with enemy groups Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Death Read more... Abdolreza Ghanbari is a Persian literature teacher. He was arrested after participating in street protests December 27, 2009 and was tried January 30, 2010 without the knowledge of his family or access to a defense lawyer. Abdolreza Ghanbari is currently inside Evin Prison. He was reportedly beaten during his interrogations and was denied contact with his family and access to a defense lawyer. He has developed kidney disease in prison and has been denied treatment while on death row.
	Name: Ahmed Reza Hashempour Date of Imprisonment: 2007 Occupation: Website administrator Charge: Membership in anti-religion and blasphemous websites Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Death; sentenced in January 2012 Read more... A website administrator, Hashempour was arrested in 2007. During his detention, Hashempour has reportedly been tortured and abused, and forced to make televised confessions. In January 2012, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s imposition of the death sentence.
	Name: Omid Kokabi Date of Imprisonment: February 2011 Occupation: Experimental laser physicist Charge: Communicating with a hostile government and illegitimate/illegal earnings Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: 10 years Read more... Omid Kokabee is an Iranian experimental laser physicist at the University of Texas at Austin who was arrested in Iran after returning from the United States to visit his family in February 2011. He was charged with “communicating with a hostile government” and “illegitimate/illegal earnings” and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He has not been allowed to meet with his lawyer. Omid Kokabee says that he made fake confessions under pressure during interrogation. He also said that he had been approached several times by Iran’s nuclear program and agents of the IRGC to work with them, but that he had refused.
	Name: Hossein Ronaghi Maleki Date of Imprisonment: December 2009 Occupation: Blogger Charge: Membership in the Iran Proxy Network; insulting the leadership; and insulting the president Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: 15 years Read more... Maleki, a blogger, was first arrested in December 2009 during the post-election protests. He spent more than 300 days in solitary confinement, and was severely beaten while in prison, suffering severe kidney damage. He was released in July 2012 on medical furlough, but re-arrested in August with 34 other earthquake aid workers in northwestern Iran. Despite his medical problems, officials have refused to release him for medical treatment. Maleki’s father has reported security officials have threatened his family if they continue to campaign on Maleki’s behalf. In late October 2012, Maleki was reportedly taken to a Tehran hospital, which refused to admit him.
	Name: Saeed Malekpour Date of Imprisonment: 2008 Occupation: Software developer Charge: Propaganda against the regime by designing pornographic sites; insulting sanctities; insulting the leader and the president; and corruption on earth Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Death Read more... Malekpour, a permanent resident of Canada, faces death for his alleged role in writing software used by others to upload pornographic photographs. Arrested in 2008, he has reportedly been tortured, abused, and forced to make a televised confession. Iranian officials first sentenced him to death in December 2010 for “insulting the sanctity of Islam,” among other charges. The Canadian government protested the verdict, leading to an annulment in June 2011, with the case being remanded to a lower court. The death sentence was imposed again, and the Supreme Court rejected Malekpour’s appeal in January 2012. In September 2012, Malekpour’s lawyer said his client had “expressed remorse and repented,” allowing him to apply for clemency.
	Name: Marzieh Vafamehr Date of Imprisonment: June 29, 2012 Occupation: Actress Charge: Participation in production of a vulgar film and anti-Sharia conduct Current Status: Freed, but unable to leave the country or allowed to do any form of cultural activities Sentence: Three months in prison Read more... Marzieh Vafamehr is an Iranian actress. She was arrested June 29, 2011, reportedly due to her acting in the 2009 Iranian-Australian film My Tehran for Sale that is critical of the regime. She was released October 24, 2011 after posting bail. She was sentenced to 90 lashes and a year in prison for appearing in the movie as an actress whose work is banned by the Iranian authorities. Upon appeal, her prison sentence was reduced to three months and the flogging sentence overturned. Marzieh Vafamehr was released after 118 days, but she was banned from making or playing in films and any forms of cultural activities as well as from leaving Iran.
	Name: Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Vahid Tizfahm, and Mahvash Sabet Date of Imprisonment: May 14, 2008 (Mahvash Sabet March 8, 2008) Occupation: Members of Yaran, the coordinating group for the Iranian Baha’i community Charge: Espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: 20 Years Read more... All seven were members of Yaran, the coordinating group that handles the religious and social needs of Iran’s Baha’i community. Mahvash Sabet was arrested March 8, 2008 and the other leaders on May 14, 2008. They were not allowed to contact their legal advisors for more than a year. They were sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on August 7, 2010. After the trial they were moved from Evin Prison in Tehran to Raja’i Shahr (Gohardasht) Prison in Karaj. Their sentence was reduced to ten years in September 2010, but in late March 2011 their twenty-year sentence was reinstated.
Faces of Iran: Journalists Unjustly Imprisoned
	Name: Mahsa Amrabadi Date of Imprisonment: June 2009 Occupation: Journalist Charge: Propaganda against the regime Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Five years, four suspended Read more... Wife of jailed journalist Masoud Bastani, Amrabadi began a year in prison in May 2012, after she was arrested in June 2009 and imprisoned for two months. Amrabadi’s activities such as participating in Qur’an reading gatherings with families of political prisoners, interviews, and writing reports for newspapers, visits with independent Grand Ayatollahs, and defending her imprisoned husband were cited as evidence of her charges.
	Name: Masoud Bastani Date of Imprisonment: July 5, 2009 Occupation: Reformist journalist Charge: Propagating against the regime and congregating and collusion to create anarchy Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Six years Read more... Husband of jailed activist Mahsa Amrabadi, Bastani is an Iranian reformist journalist. Throughout his career, he was arrested several times, most recently on July 5, 2009. He has suffered torture and abuse while in custody, and there are serious concerns about his health.
	Name: Mehdi Mahmoudian Date of Imprisonment: September 16, 2009 Occupation: Political journalist and blogger Charge: Mutiny against the regime Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Five years Read more... Arrested on September 16, 2009, Mahmoudian, a political journalist and blogger, played a significant role in documenting complaints of rape and abuse of detainees at the Kahrizak Detention Center, closed in July 2009 after Mahmoudian and revealed the abuses there. Held at Rajaee Shahr Prison, Mahmoudian is in poor health and suffers from kidney ailments.
	Name: Saeed Matinpour Date of Imprisonment: May 25, 2007 Occupation: Civil activist and journalist Charge: Connection with foreigners and propaganda against the regime Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Eight years Read more... Saeed Matinpour is an Azerbaijani civil activist and journalist. He was arrested on May 25, 2007 for having participated in a seminar in defense of the rights of Turkish-speaking people in Turkey. While in prison, he has developed acute spinal problems.
	Name: Nargess Mohammadi Date of Imprisonment: April 21, 2012 Occupation: Journalist Charge: Assembly and collusion against national security; membership in the Center for Human Rights Defenders; and propaganda against the regime Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Six years Read more... Mohammadi is a journalist and human rights activist who worked with the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC). She was sentenced on September 26, 2011, but remained free on bail until March 4, 2012, and was arrested at her home on April 21, 2012. She is currently imprisoned and has been experiencing abuse.
	Name: Issa Saharkhiz Date of Imprisonment: June 20, 2009 Occupation: Reporter; founded reformist newspaper, Akhbar-e-Eghtesad, and monthly magazine Aftab. Charge: Participation in riots; encouraging others to participate in riots; and insulting the Supreme Leader Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: One and a half years Read more... Saharkhiz worked for 15 years for IRNA, Iran’s official news agency. He returned to Iran in 1997 to work in Mohammad Khatami’s Ministry of Islamic Guidance, in charge of domestic publications. As the regime took a more conservative bent, Saharkhiz was forced to leave the ministry and was eventually banned from government service. He founded a reformist newspaper, Akhbar-e-Eghtesad, and monthly magazine, Aftab, both of which were banned. He was arrested on June 20, 2009 and sentence to a term of three years. Upon completion of his three-year sentence, he was retried on old charges stemming from the original case. He is now serving an additional year and a half sentence (reduced from two years on appeal). During his time in prison, he was tortured, abused, and denied access to blood-pressure medications. As a result, he is in poor health. He waged a hunger strike in October 2011.
	Name: Abdolreza Tajik Date of Imprisonment: March 14, 2011 Occupation: Journalist Charge: Propagation activities against the regime and cooperating with the Center for Human Rights Defenders Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Six years Read more... Tajik is a journalist who prepared reports for the Center for Human Rights Defenders. He has been arrested three times since the 2009 election. He was last arrested on June 12, 2010, released on bail on December 22, 2010, and sentenced to six years in prison on March 14, 2011. According to his sister, on his first night in detention, he was “violated” in the presence of senior judiciary officials.
Faces of Iran: Lawyers Unjustly Imprisoned
	Name: Mohammad Ali Dadkhah Date of Imprisonment: September 2012 Occupation: Human rights lawyer Charge: Seeking the soft overthrow of the government and spreading propaganda against the system through interviews with foreign media Current Status: Imprisoned Sentence: Nine years, 10 year ban on teaching and practicing law Read more... Mohammad Ali Dadkhah is a prominent Iranian human rights lawyer. He is a co-founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), which the Iranian regime has sought to suppress. In the aftermath of Iran’s disputed June 2009 elections, Dadkhah represented jailed political and human rights activists. In July 2011, he was tried and sentenced to nine years in prison and banned from practicing law f